Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

Nuclear Power Stations: Coastal Areas

baroness jones of moulsecoomb: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the Office for Nuclear Regulation has a threshold beyond which the construction of new nuclear power stations would be disallowed on a specific section of coastline as a result of Met Office projections for (1) sea levels, or (2) the frequency of storm surges.

lord callanan: The independent Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) considers nuclear site licence applications and related regulatory matters on a case-by-case basis. In order to ensure the impact of climate change and the adequacy of project specific mitigations are fully and properly considered, the ONR does not prescribe thresholds in advance. The regulator requires appropriate safety margins and considers the latest official climate change predictions, prepared with the Meteorological Office and the Environment Agency.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Islamic State: Prosecutions

lord alton of liverpool: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of reports that the authorities in Kurdistan lack sufficient resources to detain, investigate and prosecute suspected Daesh fighters; what assistance they will offer to address those issues; and what steps they will take to establish an international or regional tribunal to prosecute Daesh fighters.

lord ahmad of wimbledon: The UK assesses that the effective prosecution of Daesh fighters in Iraq presents a significant challenge to Iraq's judicial systems, including in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. We are working directly with the judicial systems of the Government of Iraq and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRI) to build their capacity, as called upon by UN Security Council Resolution 2379 on Daesh Accountability. We have identified areas where we can share expertise and will continue to work closely with Iraq's judiciary to ensure due process and compliance with international law.Our Embassy in Baghdad has regular discussions with the Government of Iraq and the UN Investigative Team for the Accountability of Daesh (UNITAD), encouraging close co-operation between them to achieve justice for the victims of Daesh's crimes. Through advanced witness protection and support UNITAD is expanding its engagement with witnesses and survivors. We are committed to ensuring that those responsible for war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity are brought to justice in accordance with due legal process. The UK will continue to work closely with international partners in addressing the issues associated with foreign terrorist fighters and in the pursuit of justice of those who have participated in terrorism overseas.

Bahrain: Human Rights

lord scriven: To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer byLord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 24 February (HL1680), what specific monitoring is doneto track improvements in the human rights situation in Bahrainfor programmes inthat country.

lord ahmad of wimbledon: The British Government takes note of a number of sources of information to track and assess the human rights landscape in Bahrain, including private engagement, statistical data, and public reports.Our assistance is designed to support Bahrain-led reform in areas including human rights. It is provided in line with international standards and fully complies with our human rights obligations and the Overseas Security and Justice Assistance process. Programmes are routinely monitored by officials and evaluated, by officials, on a regular basis to ensure that they are on track for delivery.

Israel: Palestinians

baroness tonge: To ask Her Majesty's Government what representations they have made to the government of Israel concerning the shooting of a 15 year old Palestinian child near Kufr Qaddum on 30 January and reports that there was a delay to his transportation to hospital.

lord ahmad of wimbledon: While we have not raised the case in question, we remain concerned at reported instances of excessive use of force by Israeli forces. We call on Israel to adhere to the principles of necessity and proportionality when defending its legitimate security interest. We urge the Israeli authorities to thoroughly investigate every alleged instance and bring those responsible to justice. We have also stressed the importance of the Israel security forces providing appropriate protection to the Palestinian civilian population, in particular the need to protect children. We did so most recently at the UN Security Council on 21 January. Free movement of patients and medical personnel is vital to the effectiveness of care. Delays to treatment can endanger the health and lives of patients.

Palestinians: Trade

baroness tonge: To ask Her Majesty's Government what representations they have made to the government of Israel concerning the prevention of Palestinian agricultural exports via Jordan by Israeli authorities.

lord ahmad of wimbledon: The UK is concerned about the impact of recent Israeli trade restrictions on the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The British Government strongly supports the principle of free trade. UK businesses should be free to import Palestinian products without barriers. Her Majesty's Ambassador to Israel has raised this issue with the Government of Israel, most recently on 12 February. We welcome the agreement reached by the Government of Israel and the Palestinian Authority, on 20 February, to lift their respective trade restrictions. We urge both sides to ensure implementation of this agreement.

Iran: Baha'i Faith

baroness whitaker: To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of reports thatIran’s Baha'i minority are being prevented from obtaining identity cards under new rules, thereby depriving them of basic civil rights.

lord ahmad of wimbledon: We are aware of reports that Iran's Baha'i community are being prevented from obtaining identity cards under new rules, depriving them of accessing many basic services. We remain concerned about the continued harassment and mistreatment that the Baha'i and other minority religious groups face. We support the UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Iran's assessment that discrimination against the Baha'is in Iran is sanctioned by a lack of constitutional recognition. We regularly call upon Iran to cease harassment of all religious minorities and to fulfil its international and domestic obligations to protect freedom of religion or belief to all Iranians.

Identity Cards: Religion

lord hylton: To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with governments of countries that require religious affiliation to be stated on identity cards or other official documents about such a requirement.

lord ahmad of wimbledon: The UK opposes the requirement that religious affiliation should be stated on identity cards or other official documents. In Myanmar for example, the UK has supported the recommendations of the Rakhine Advisory Commission's to reform the 1982 Citizenship Law, and has urged the Myanmar Government to fully implement them. This would ensure that citizenship, and ID cards, are not linked to ethnic or religious status. Defending and promoting Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB) is a longstanding human rights priority for the British Government. We actively promote the importance of FoRB and tackling discrimination on the basis of religious identity through our diplomatic activity both bilterally, and through multilateral fora such as the UN.

Ministry of Defence

HMS Vanguard

lord west of spithead: To ask Her Majesty's Government when HMS Vanguard will re-join the Fleet; and what is the final cost of the present refit and refuelling.

baroness goldie: I am withholding details of when HMS VANGUARD will re-join the Fleet as disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of the Armed Forces. I am also withholding the estimated cost of the present refit and refuelling, as its disclosure would prejudice commercial interests.

Department for Work and Pensions

Poverty: Statistics

the lord bishop of durham: To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they are planning to adopt the Social Metrics Commission's measurement of poverty across all departments following the Department for Work and Pensions' commitment in May 2019 to develop experimental statistics using that Commission's measurement; and whether they have any further information on this issue.

baroness stedman-scott: In May 2019 the Government announced that it would develop a new experimental poverty statistic. The Department aims to publish these statistics in the second half of 2020 and this work is ongoing.

Home Office

British National (Overseas): Passports

lord alton of liverpool: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many applications have been received for British National (Overseas) passports in each of the last three years, broken down by month.

baroness williams of trafford: The figures provided for 2019 can only be reported up to the end of June 2019 as these figures are reported within the Home Office transparency figures and cannot be published separately at this time. MonthBN (O) applications received in 2018January1,779February1,464March1,677April1,642May1,765June1,681July1,866August1,726September1,337October1,911November1,780December1,821 MonthBN (O) applications received in 2017January1,734February1,573March1,798April1,558May1,820June1,742July1,906August1,797September1,669October1,871November1,526December1,413   MonthBN (O) applications received in 2019January2,139February1,753March2,581April2,957May3,492June5,532

Cabinet Office

Prime Minister: Official Engagements

lord hennessy of nympsfield: To ask Her Majesty's Government how many engagements the Prime Minister has undertaken in his capacity as Minister for the Union since the December 2019 general election.

lord true: As Minister for the Union, all the engagements my Rt Hon friend the Prime Minister carries out are undertaken in that capacity. Details are published quarterly on the gov.uk website.

Department for International Trade

Trade Agreements: USA

the marquess of lothian: To ask Her Majesty's Government when the Prime Minister will meet the President of the United States to discuss a trade deal between the UK and the USA; and when it is proposed that formal trade negotiations will commence.

viscount younger of leckie: Now that our negotiating objectives for a UK US Free Trade Agreement have been published, we are in a position to negotiate and are in discussions with the United States about when those negotiations will commence. The Prime Minister values the UK’s relationship with the United States, our closest defence and security ally and largest single trading partner. He speaks regularly to the President and will discuss the progress of negotiations in his discussions with the President over the coming months.